---
title: Leo: "Why build a whole capital from scratch, that's mad." What's a… — Cities then and now: the biggest citie… · tree and pragmatics
description: Leo: "Why build a whole capital from scratch, that's mad." What's a reason? Test 9 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» of the history course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choic
---

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# Test 9 · Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and o…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Leo: "Why build a whole capital from scratch, that's mad." What's a reason?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Leo, that · **What happens:** build, be · **To what, where:** whole capital, scratch, reason

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 of lesson 74 «Cities then and now: the biggest cities of every age and of today» of the history course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Leo: "Why build a whole capital from scratch, that's mad."

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t9:1
# text = Leo: "Why build a whole capital from scratch, that's mad."
1	Leo	Leo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
3	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
5	build	build	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	capital	capital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	scratch	scratch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **build** *in a quote* | infinitive | Leo | a whole capital |  | scratch |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.product PP.material»: agent=Agent capital=Product from scratch=Material |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  | mad *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What's a reason?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t9:2
# text = What's a reason?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | a reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because games told them to

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t9:o1:1
# text = Because games told them to
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	games	game	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	xcomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | games |  | them *= they* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the President liked camping

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t9:o2:1
# text = Because the President liked camping
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	President	President	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	camping	camping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | past | the President | camping |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot camping=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To be fair between regions instead of choosing an old rival city

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t9:o3:1
# text = To be fair between regions instead of choosing an old rival city
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	between	between	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	regions	region	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
6	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	8	mark	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	choosing	choose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	rival	rival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | between regions; fair *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **choose** | gerund |  | a old rival city |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Because the old capital ran out of bricks and could not grow any more

```conllu
# sent_id = question:history:74-the-biggest-cities-of-every-age-and-of-today:t9:o4:1
# text = Because the old capital ran out of bricks and could not grow any more
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	capital	capital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	bricks	brick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
13	any	any	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	12	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | the old capital |  |  | bricks |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out brick=Trajectory |
| 2 | **not** **grow** | could | the old capital *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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